His teammates cheered and yelled when he walked in. Glen Davis doused him with a pitcher of ice water.

“It’s a great feeling to know that you have a team behind you and the team has your back,” Orton said later. “To have teammates like these that enjoy moments like this, that are proud of you and happy for you, it just feels good. It feels good.”

Orton spent 29 minutes on the floor, more than doubling his previous career high. He also scored 11 points, grabbed four rebounds, recorded five steals and blocked three shots — again, all new career highs.

It felt so fulfilling because the past two seasons at times have felt like a nightmare to him.

Drafted with the 29th pick in the first round in 2010, Orton struggled from the beginning. He came out of Kentucky after just one season with one of his knees still bothering him from a high-school injury, and the muscles around the knee were so weak that they hampered him badly and forced him to spend time rehabbing instead of practicing. And when he played in aD-Leaguestint, he tore cartilage in the knee, necessitating surgery.

Magic officials see him as talented, but they believe he can work harder to reach his potential. Coach Stan Van Gundy alluded to that in his postgame press conference last night after he praised Orton for his play.

“He did a great job,” Van Gundy said.

“Defensively, he was great on rotations and he’s a sharp kid. If he’d really decide to really, really work at it and everything, I think he showed that he’s capable of some things, especially on the defensive end. But even offensively, I thought he did a good job in our pick-and-roll game. He knows how we want to play; he’s trying to play that way. I’m really happy for him.”

Orton is 6-10, but he is not a back-to-the-basket center. He regards himself as more of a face-up power forward, and he does have a good shooting touch.

Orton may have to play a large role in the next few days with Dwight Howard resting due to a herniated disk and Glen Davis nursing an injured right knee. Davis will be evaluated today in Orlando and could undergo an MRI.

So Orton will have some more chances to prove himself, and he’ll face better competition than he faced Sunday night.

He’ll be playing to help the Magic’s playoff positioning, to be sure. But these games will be critical to him personally as he tries to show NBA scouts and general managers that he deserves their consideration in free agency this summer.

A TV reporter in the Magic locker room Sunday asked him if “Dansanity” had begun.